In the event of general nuclear war all strageic airborne elements of the Air Force, including reserve forces, will eventually need a recovery airfield if they are to be retained as assets. One major problem that surviving command and control elements and the force elements themselves have, will be the location of suitable airfields to be used as recovery bases. Starting in the early post-attack period of a general nuclear war, aircraft which are acting under the direction of command and control elements, or, in some cases aircraft that are acting alone will begin collecting information as to the status of all candidate recovery airfields.
In the case of the military need for the status of recovery airfields, the information required from the field is the result of nuclear events affecting the airfield, such as, ground radiation level, likelyhood of blast damage, etc. In addition, aircraft attempting to use the field will require a positve means of locating the field in a timely manner where normal ground navigation aids may be inoperative.
In the case of civil need, the same nuclear effects information is required. Additional information such as quantity and status of logistic assets may also be required.
Because of the nature of the nuclear effects about which information is required and the austere environment of the post-attack period, it is desirable to determine the field status remotely without the need to send survey teams directly to those locations. It is also important to have a system which will provide the status information only to those personnel who are authorized to have it.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a simplified system which would provide limited status reporting capability and can interface with an aircraft flying in the vicinity of a potential recovery airfield. This system would provide aircraft personnel with the status of current radiation level and possible surface nuclear effects such as blast overpressure.